Immigration Detention in Louisiana [FACT SHEET]

Human Rights First is hosting a Dialogues on Detention Series in Texas, California, Arizona, and New Orleans to convene policymakers, academics, and advocates to share knowledge, experiences, and best practices on how to reform immigration detention policies. We aim to help shift the national conversation on immigration detention, build alliances between stakeholders in both fields, and lay the groundwork for future improvements in policy and practice. Join the Dialogues!

ICE pulled out of Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) in April 2012 following serious concerns over conditions expressed by the U.S. Department of Justice as well as a federal class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of OPP’s inmates by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Law school clinics from Loyola University New Orleans and Louisiana State University provide legal information presentations to individuals held by ICE at Basile and Tensas Parish. Catholic Charities in Baton Rouge is funded to provide Legal Orientation Presentations at Jena. Individuals held by ICE at Oakdale do not receive legal information presentations.

The Facts

ICE holds the overwhelming majority of the 429,000 asylum seekers and other immigrants it detains annually – under civil immigration law authority – in jails and jail-like facilities.

ICE has 33,400 detention beds in about 250 facilities across the country.

Arriving asylum seekers and many other immigrants are detained without access to individual court review of their detention.

ICE spends $2 billion per year on detention – 28 times its budget for alternatives to detention.

LOS ANGELES - Yesterday, Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia tragically died after being hospitalized for complications related to COVID-19. Escobar Mejia is the first person confirmed as having died in ICE...

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